Draft Champion of Irori build

[Douglas Muir 406]

This is a 12th level NPC who may be an antagonist in my Way of the Wicked campaign. (If my players are reading, you should stop now. This is just a draft, and you wouldn't meet him for a while anyway, but still.)

I'm looking for a solid build, not necessarily a super-optimized one. For in-campaign reasons he has to be human. (Yes, I know an aasimar would be awesome.) A 20 point "boss" build with racial and level boosts gives Str 14, Con 13, Dex 14, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 14. He'll go Pal 2, Monk 3, CoI 7 with no other dips.

Heroic NPC gives me 21,000 to play with. Amulet of Mighty Fists +1 is 5,000, Headband of Mental Prowess +2 (Wis and Cha) is 10,000, and Ring of Ki Mastery is 10,000... it's cheating a bit but, hell, he's a boss.

Feats, he gets seven. The three Crane Style feats, of course. Osyluth Guile, it's just too good to pass up. (He has studied the evil ones in order to turn their techniques against them!) Weapon Focus (unarmed) and that leaves two. Open to suggestions here.

Now: on a plain vanilla attack, he'll flurry like a 10th level monk +8/+8/+3/+3. Add (+2 paladin BAB +2 Str +1 Amulet +1 WF) and that becomes +14/+14/+9/+9, for d10+3 damage. Not horrible, but no great shakes for a 12th level character. But smiting, now. Smiting, he hits at +17/+17/+12/+12 for d10+12. That's much better.

AC: 10 + 2 monk AC bonus +2 Dex +5 Wis is 19, which isn't much. But when smiting he gets another +3 against the smite target. And with the Crane Style feats and three ranks in acrobatics, he can boost his AC by +5 at the cost of taking a -1 on to hit rolls. With Osyluth Guile, he can boost that by another +3 against one target. So he can have AC 24 against everyone, and AC 30 against the smitee. He has a friendly spellcaster who can throw Shield, Haste, and Protection from Evil, so given a few moments to buff he'll have little trouble getting those up to 30/36.

In terms of saves, I'm seeing Fort +14 / Ref +12 / Will +18.

This doesn't actually seem overpowered (note again: not optimized) but his ability to smite all the ding-dong day makes him an alarming foe for evil PCs. Remember, thanks to the ring smiting only costs 1 ki point, and he has 10 ki points. Also, Crane Wing means he gets to ignore one melee attack/round, and Crane Riposte lets him flip that into an AoO. So he's actually in decent shape for going toe-to-toe with evil melee types.

Okay, so. Thoughts?

Doug M.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Upon consideration, I think we can ditch the Ring of Ki Mastery. It's nice and all, but he has 9 ki points already. That's four smites plus his original paladin one -- and he's got Sweeping Smite as well. If he has to smite more than five times, things are getting weird. (After all, he's an NPC antagonist, not a PC.)

So, where to spend that cash instead. Hm.

Doug M.

[prototype00]

Bracers of the Avenging Knight, make up for all those non Paladin, non CoI levels.

Heck, keep the ring of Ki Mastery, he'll need all those ki points to lay on hands as the players beat on him.

prototype00

[Douglas Muir 406]

Ah, good point! There's nothing PCs hate more than an antagonist who heals himself in real time. And while 5d6 healing isn't a huge deal at this level, 5d6 every round for nine rounds is like having Fast Healing 17.

One problem with the Bracers is that since this guy is an NPC antagonist, I don't want to crank his damage output TOO high. Giving him more staying power, yes, absolutely -- that keeps him around longer and gives him a chance to be a recurring PITA. But if he's doing another +8 of damage on each attack... well, he can get four attacks flurrying, five if he burns a ki point, six if hasted. I want a serious threat, not a likely TPK.

Doug M.

[DM-DR]

Since he is 12th level, are you needing him to be CR 11 or 12 against the party? With PC class levels and NPC wealth he is CR 11. If you needed more items (even stuff just to fluff him out) you can give him PC wealth for +1 CR.

Beyond the question, it is a really nice build. Even not fully optimized, I think depending on your PCs he could give them a run for their money. With your last two feat slots, I'd think about Reward of Grace for the +1 sacred attack bonus after using Lay on Hands. If you will also be having the friendly spellcaster in the battle with him and plan to cure him as well, you should also look into Reward of Life. Though on the latter, 3 hp each time he cures his ally might not be as useful as just picking up an extra lay on hands (extra Ki might work better) or if you cna tweak it to gain paladin 3 for mercy you could grab the Greater Mercy feat for additional healing.